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maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=4036+Brooklyn+Av...— This is where Grandma Mary and Grandpa Sol were married in Grandma's family home. I loved to visit my grandparents in this house. One time, I got to take the train from Chicago to Kansas City all by myself. See how narrow the driveway is. Their house is to the right. I used to drive up that driveway. You had to do it just right or you would hit one or the other house. Then you went out facing the street so you could see the street car which may be coming. The over hang was outside the dining room. I was the only one who continued to use the driveway. There was a way to get in around the back, but I didn't come that way. On the front porch there was an old wooden two seater swing which I loved. A street car went down the middle of the street. I remember roller skating down the driveway and hoping a street car wouldn't come. On the corner across the street was a grocery store. Sometimes I'd get to go and get something for Grandma. She was a great cook. She made the best pies. I particularly liked the pie crust. She would fry the bits she crimped off and put powdered sugar on them. At the back of the house there was a sewing machine and Grandma showed me how to sew on it. The ice man delivered ice for the ice box. Milk came in a glass container with the cream on the top. I thought it was wonderful when Grandma would skim off the top and I could drink it. Funny, I'm not particularly found of cream now. Grandma also took me to Jenkins Studio to see the accordion players. That is when I knew that I wanted to learn to play the accordion. Grandpa would count the money from the customers on his newspaper route on the dining room table. Sometimes I would be able to roll up the coins in paper. Now that it is done automatically, I think. I loved helping Grandpa. What was really cool was when I got to go with him to deliver papers. He went to bed around 9:00 pm and got up at 12:00 midnight to go out. He would spot the papers on the corners and boys would deliver them. He usually returned about 5:00 in the morning. We would have a cup of tea and then he would go to bed. He also had an afternoon/evening delivery. Don't remember just when that was.
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Himan was a cute little man. My favorite description of him was said by one of his customers after his funeral. "He was the man who always had a smile." Himan and Flora were first cousins. When Flora was a baby, Himan would wheel her in her baby carriage. When he came to America, he was about 18 years old. Flora was 8. According to his WWI draft registration, he had dark brown hair and brown eyes and was short. When I was little I want to be as tall as Grandma. Didn't take too long for me to realize that 4'10" wasn't very tall. Grandpa wasn't much taller at 5'. Grandpa owned a dry goods store in Kansas City. My mother, Mary Pelofsky, used to help in the store. When the debts became too much, he closed the store, but promised to pay back all his creditors. The job that I remember was he delivered "The Kansas City Star". I loved to go on the route with him. His hours were very strange. He got up at 12:00 am and delivered the newspapers to various corners where delivery boys would hand deliver them to customers. He would get home around 5:00 am and have a cup of tea. Even if I didn't go on the evening route, I would be up early to have tea with him. Then he would go to sleep for a while. When he got up there would be phone calls from customers who didn't receive their papers. I also loved to help him count the money. He would sit at the dining room table and put the coins in piles. Then we would roll them up in paper. All the quarters together, etc. I assume the rolls equaled a certain amount. When he kissed me, it was always on the forehead. He would take my face in his hands when he did it.

Uncle Himan was sweet, kind, and had the most wonderful smile and twinkling eyes. I loved the way his mustache felt on my forehead when he would hold my face and give me a kiss. His home at 4036 Brooklyn was also where my grandma and grandpa, Sigmond Kritzler and Celia Pelofsky Kritzler were married. Uncle Himan was Grandma's big brother.

I remember him as, "little grampa." My daughter Katherine Hannah is named after him..I am named for his wife, Wendy Flora! Like said in another post, I remember him kissing me by holding my face and kissing me on the forehead. Isn't it interesting that it is the little things we remember! :)

As Wendy states he was always my Little Grampa - he used to give me silver dollars, and sit me on his lap and call me his little TierKite (apologize for the spelling) - I know it was something wonderful, but I have no idea what it meant. When I was was young, I even had a chance to go on his rounds delivering newspapers in KC

My parents, Sol and Mary Spiegel were married at 4036 Brooklyn also. One reason he was known as Little Grampa was because my father's father, Charles Spiegel, was close to 6 feet tall. So he was big grandpa.